Vows of the Warrior
by Celestial Duet
Summary: Dingo finds himself called to aid a dying mother fox and her cub and a blue eyed mysterious girl who is mute.


"Oi Dingo… you're going the wrong way… again…" Tomahawkman sighed, examining the digital map right next to him.

"The tomahawk says this direction!" Dingo exclaimed, pointing his weapon into a cluster of trees. His irritated navi grumbled at the fact that his directions were correct and yet his net-op insisted on relying on a stupid method.

"I am serious, I'm picking up on a house this way, Dingo."

Dingo continued to avoid his advice. The boy's brain was as stubborn as a Billy goat. He leapt from branch to branch, throwing his tomahawk here and there. Suddenly he came upon a giant tree smack dab in the middle of a clearing.

"I don't remember this being here," he said.

"I told you, its this way, baka. Why don't you ever listen!" Tomahawkman cried. Dingo gave up. He had to admit, it wouldn't hurt to use modern methods sometimes, even if it meant facing a smug navi. He listened to his navi's instructions, taking and turning on one path to another. He suddenly came upon the heavy scent of incense and followed it up some stairs to an old cabin.

"See wasn't that easy?" Tomahawkman asked, folding his arms with pride. Dingo rolled his eyes. Perhaps today wasn't his day. He knocked on the wooden door and tried avoid getting splinters every time his fist made contact to the wood.

"Come in, come in, boy," an elderly voice croaked from inside. Dingo pulled the door open. An old woman looked up from her colorful looking bowl and gave her guest a wrinkled grin.

"Ah… my curry. Still fresh as always. Please sit, young man. I shall pay you your fee along with your fortune told," the hermit said.

"Gomen, sensei. But I must return to the shop, I'll be needed for my next delivery," Dingo replied as she handed him some sweet tea.

"That is if you can make it back in one piece," Tomahawkman mumbled. Dingo took out his PET and mouthed "shut up and be respectful" to the wood type. The old hermit laughed, her grey eyes glimmered with such youthful spirit.

"A navi with such spirit has a net-op who trained him well. You two make quite a team," she chuckled.

"Arigato, sensei. But I must take my leave," Dingo said.

"None sense. You have time to spare. Your boss was my student when he was your age. So he should know of your whereabouts. However, I feel a sense of spirits who need your aid."

Dingo looked up at her, curious to see who she saw as she handed him his pay.

"I see a dying mother asking for you to take care of her cub, a young silent female with blue eyes who will open up to only you and you alone. And a judgment that will rest on your shoulders in the coming days."

Dingo bit his lip on the third fortune. He looked down at the mark on his hand. Of course, he must help stop a extraterrestrial navi from harming his world. But… the other two… a mother… and some girl… it was all too strange for him to handle. He got up and bowed to the hermit and left silently.

"I forgot to tell him about that girl… and now I left him searching for her again... the poor dear…" the hermit said to herself as she watched him walk down the path.

Dingo shook his head as he continued to make his way out of the forest. The words "mother" and "blue eyed girl" repeated in his head. What did it all mean? He decided to put it behind him. Fortunes never did come true anyways.

Suddenly a pitiful howl pierced the silence of the forest. Dingo looked up, hearing the whispers cry out "this way, this way!" He ran faster, his heart pounding in his ears. Dingo couldn't believe he was actually believing the hermit. He came to a skidding halt.

There in a trap was a fox. It's leg was caught in a trap and was severely bleeding. It looked up at the boy with it's clouded eyes as if to say, "please help". He heard a small whimper and looked over to see a squirming body next to the dying fox. The cub was only perhaps a day old and was starving for milk that it's mother could no longer give.

"Are you her?" Dingo asked, "are you the mother? Do you want me to take care of your baby?"

The fox nudged her little one with her muzzle over to the creature who's kind hunted hers. Dingo knew that this was a rare and endangered type of fox only known as the red starred fox. The red stars were known to have live up to thirty years which was longer than their family. They had a star on their forehead and black button eyes. Due to the high price of fur and the destruction of their home, they were rapidly dying off and once again, man had won.

"I understand… and I will take care of your kin, Mother Fox," Dingo said, cradling the little baby. His eyes stung with tears as he watched the fox take her last breath.

"Dingo… that's the very first time I've seen you cry," Tomahawkman said quietly, feeling somewhat guilty of screaming at him earlier.  
>"I'm not crying, baka. I just have something in my eye," his net-op sniffed. But the truth was he was crying. This was an example why Duo wanted to kill the humans.<p>

Dingo, took off his hoodie and wrapped it around the newborn cub. He then took his tomahawk and pried open the trap. He then cut down a thin tree and made fire wood for the passing of the spirit ritual. Dingo placed the dead fox's body onto the wood and lit it. As the flame burned, he prayed that the spirits would set the mother fox's spirit to be reborn in a new life.

As he opened his eyes, he saw a vision of the mother fox thanking him for his kindness in taking in her offspring.

"I promise I'll protect her, Mother Fox," he whispered as the flame died. He picked his hoodie and cradled the little fox. For some reason, he had an instant connection to this little being.

"Dingo… I know that you promised the mother, but… what are you going to do about Itachi-san?" Tomahawkman asked. Itachi was Dingo's greedy beer-bellied landlord who liked nothing than to evict his tenants when they couldn't pay their dues. The boy was always at the top of his hit list of people most likely to evict. But Dingo always found a way to pay it off. However, it was getting more and more expensive each month. And Itachi didn't like pets let alone a wild animal.

"We'll hide her from him. He's so focused on his green that he wouldn't even notice her. No one will notice her," Dingo exclaimed as he walked back, "anyways, tell Mahajarama-san that I'm taking the rest of the day off and then start looking up websites on Red Star Foxes, Tomahawkman."

When he got home, he made a little bed out of a shoe box and some cloth. He bought some milk and fed it to the fox with a baby doll's bottle that he bought from the dollar store. Dingo couldn't believe how much the little one ate. In fact for nearly two weeks, the fox kept him up late, wanting to eat every two hours. Sometimes he had to lie in order to get off from work or hang out with Dekao and Netto, his two best friends. Even Tomahawkman kept Rockman and Gutsman from spying on what Dingo was up to.

One day as the little fox climbed up onto Dingo's lap and began tugging at one of the fringes of his sleeve, Dingo came up with a name for her.

"I'll call you Kaya," he said, picking up the little fox and cuddling it. The little fox licked his nose. Tomahawkman knew that his net-op was getting too attached to the little creature.

"Dingo… you know that she'll probably will have to go back to the wild," he said, crossing his arms. Dingo looked down at him with a sad frown.

"I know but it seems that I can't return her since she's already imprinted me as her parent. She's been with us for so long," he answered.

A few days later, after getting tired of Tomahawkman's nagging, Dingo left his navi at the shop to make a delivery without him. It wasn't too hard… he was only ten minutes late. However he didn't get a tip and left with an empty heart, worried that he wouldn't have enough to feed Kaya nor have enough to feed Itachi's fat wallet. He walked in, greeting Netto and Jasmine, a pharmacist in the making. He noticed that everyone's PET were laying out on one table where a girl dressed in fancy black and white clothing sat. Even his own PET was there. What was this stranger up to? Did everyone not care that this rich girl had their PETs?

He could hear the navis chattering away as the girl continued to draw in what seemed to be a note pad. Her eyes were hidden underneath a black veil but Dingo could see that she was enjoying herself shown by the giant smile on her face.

"Isn't she cute?" Dekao asked, "Do me a favor and give these to Netto and Jasmine-chan. I'm going to make that little cutie some of the finest curry."

Dingo rolled his eyes as he took the plate of curry. He wasn't surprised that Dekao was head over heels for this rich chick. The guy was always falling for girls.

He walked over, not noticing the stray glass on the floor. Curry flew everywhere as he fell backwards, right in front of the rich girl and her "navi" posse. The girl swiftly used her fan to block the incoming curry. Silence ensued as Netto and Jasmine stared at him as Tomahawkman shook his head.

"My curry," Netto squeaked as Jasmine gave a sheepish smile while comforting him.

"That would probably be my reckless net-op, Dingo," Tomahawkman sneered as he glared at the boy. The girl hid her face from everyone with her now curry soaked fan.

"Eh? what's wrong," Rockman asked. The girl snorted and giggling hysterically as she dropped her fan and banged her fist against the table. Dingo felt completely humiliated by the sight of this rich girl's mockery.

"Madam, gomenasi! Are you okay? Did you get burnt? Dingo, you baka!" Dekao screamed as he stumbled over some pots and pans. But the girl continued to giggle. She knelt down and scooped some of the curry off Dingo's cheek with her finger and licked it. She grabbed her sketch book and began to write in it.

_"It's delicious!" _she wrote, giving him a larger smile than the one before,_ "I think I'll have an order of that!" _

The fancy dressed girl reached for his hand and pulled him back onto his feet. She took off her veil, revealing two dark blue eyes that made Dingo's heart skip. The girl from the hermit's vision!

"Dingo!"

The two looked over at an enraged Netto as he stormed up to them.

"That was my curry!" he cried. The girl frowned and slapped his head with her book. Netto yelped and stepped back.

"What was that for?"

_"Show some manners, Ni-sama! You have to wait for another batch. Now please, you're scaring your girlfriend!" _the girl wrote. Netto's eyebrow twitched as Jasmine slid in her seat, red faced at what she wrote.

"Ni-sama? I didn't know you had a sister, Netto," Dingo said.

"She's not really my sister… she's my cousin that my parents adopted a few days ago. Dingo… this is Hikari Adeline. Adeline, this is Dingo, Tomahawkman's Net-op," Netto murmured.

_"Please to meet you, Dingo-kun. You're name is so unique!" _Adeline wrote.

"Thanks, Adeline…" Dingo said as she wiped the curry off of his face with a napkin. Despite looking like a rich girl, this girl was completely generous and very kind though she was completely weird.

_"Please, everyone calls me Addy."_

"Okay… Addy-chan, erm why do you write in a sketch book?"

_"I'm mute," _Addy wrote with a sad expression on her face,_ "I've been silent since I can remember. So I communicate using a sketchbook." _

"Oh… gomenasi…" Dingo looked away, feeling that he was being rude for asking. Addy patted his forehead, giving him another smile of assurance.

_"Please don't feel guilty. People always ask me that. Besides, you made me laugh. I forgot how joyous that feeling. Arigato, Dingo-kun!"_

A few days passed and Addy was hired by Mahajarama as the newest addition to Maha Ichiban's. She had no talent in the kitchen and constantly blew up the kitchen so Mahajarma made her be Dingo's delivery "intern". In away, both Dingo and Tomahawkman were glad to have the newbie for company. For Tomahawkman, it meant having someone "normal" to talk to even though it was a one sided conversation. For Dingo, it was having someone who didn't mind getting lost with him as Addy saw his Tomahawk navigating method as a way to see the city. Besides, she allowed him to ride her bike which made the deliveries quicker.

On her third day on the job, Netto was instructed to escort his sister to Dingo's apartment. by his father, though it meant waking up early. Addy walked up to Itachi's desk with a basket of fresh bread, pastries and wrapped fish in her arms. She was dressed in a new steam punk outfit with goggles.

"What do you want,freak? If its for me then give it. If not scram," Itachi grunted.

_"I'm looking for Dingo-kun's apartment," _Addy wrote.

"Oh… Tarzan… he's in room 405. Oh do me a favor and give this to him. He's late on his payment. Hey Jane, while you're up there will you mind giving this to your boyfriend?"

The man threw on the basket a greasy envelop. Addy looked at him in disgust before leaving him to his unhealthy meal that would make Jasmine's nurse navi, Medi, have nightmares.

She rang the door bell, excited to see Dingo and Tomahawkman. She heard scuffling in the room as if Dingo was fight off someone.

"Hang on! I'm coming! Ow! Tomahawkman get the door!" he called. Addy looked down as Tomahawkman appeared on the screen beside the door.

"Konichiwa Addy! Erm… Dingo will be out in a bit!" the wood type stuttered.

_"Tomahawk-kun… dijoubou?" _Addy wrote as Dingo opened the door, looking a little disheveled.

"Oi, Addy-chan, sorry to keep you waiting. M-m-my room was a little messy so I had to clean up," he said grinning.

_"No need to worry. I am sure your apartment is neater than Ni-sama's room. I hope you haven't eaten yet. Oba-san made us breakfast!" _she held up her basket, the greasy envelop falling to the floor. Dingo eyed it, knowing the barbeque sauce print on the edges. He stuffed it in his pocket before Adeline noticed.

"Come in, Addy-chan. Arigato for the food," he said as he took the basket and gestured her inside, taking note that her eyes were becoming brighter than yesterday. He watched as she lightly skipped about the den, taking in the forest wall paper, mats and wooden furniture. She wrote in her sketchbook once again and showed it to him.

_"Did you carve all of this yourself?" _

Dingo puffed up his chest like a bird of pride. Tomahawkman rolled his eyes and grinned.

"He got some of the stuff online," he said, causing his net-op to make a face. Addy giggled as she sauntered gracefully to the cabinets to get some plates and cups. She set them on the table in a proper line up: knife, fork, spoon, plate and coffee cup.

Kaya stuck her head out of Dingo's fuzzy blue throw he hid her in. curious to see a new human roaming in her territory. Dingo bit his lip as she disappeared into the covers again. He knew that Red Stars were known to be territorial and would be hostile if a fox of the same gender wondered into their territory and intermingled with it's family.

_"Dingo-kun is something wrong? You and Tomahawk-kun are acting really strange today" _Addy wrote, a frown graced her lips. Dingo feverously shook his head, taking note of the bushy red tail snaking behind the couch. He forgot that Netto asked him to escort her to Maha Ichiban's. No way he couldn't let Adeline see Kaya. Though she was sweet, Addy was serious of prim and proper. Dingo guessed that her father raised her as a debutant (which didn't really work out since Adeline seem to get her dresses wrecked everyday) so she must have been raised to be a proper lady that a rich man would marry. And with a fox roaming the apartment, she would probably be disgusted with him.

"Nothing, please sit, Addy-chan," he said, pulling out chair for her. She let out another feathery laugh as she sat down and jotted down the words that made him speechless.

_"My, I never met a boy with who has a gentleman side! Not even Ni-sama has manners. You are becoming my number one favorite!" _

Dingo's cheeks turned a light shade of pink as he bowed and winked as he kissed her hand. Secretly the girl who he believed to be a rich snob quickly turned into one of his best friends.

"I am at your service milady."

His friend snorted, adding the words to the sheet of paper, _"Ugh…don't call me that! You're such a boy!" _

"Whatever you say milady," Dingo said, mockingly as he sat down next her. Addy threw a strawberry at him. He affectionately tugged the single long curl that dangled over her shoulder.

"Itadakimasu!" he cried while Addy let out a "na~ya!" sound as if she said the word as well. As they ate, Dingo kept his eyes on Kaya who was hiding in an open cabinet, spying on the female who was eating with her parent. Something hit his arm and he looked down at the words, _"How is it?" _

He nodded, happily munching on his rice. Haruka was a fabulous cook. It had been a long time since he tasted a home cooked meal. Suddenly he choked on his coffee as something fuzzy brushed his leg. He looked down at Kaya who was ready to pounce on Addy. She crouched down on her front paws and leapt upward at the girl.

_CRASH! _

Dingo lunged at Adeline and sent them both tumbling to the floor. Addy looked up at him, astonished by the fall.

"Daijoubou, Addy-chan?" He asked, struggling to grab her sketch book . He knew that he had just dropped down to being the last person she liked now. But he didn't want her to see Kaya and have her taken away.

A scuffle caused them to look up as Kaya tugged at Adeline's curl. Dingo swatted her away but Kaya kept on dodging his hand.

"I can explain," Dingo said as he got off of Addy. Addy just flipped onto her stomach and stared at the little fox with curiosity glimmering in her eyes. The staring contest lasted for five minutes without letting up before Kaya let out a growl as the strange female raised her hand to her head. Addy gently but cautiously petted the wild animal. Kaya blinked at the human, taking a liking to the girl's sweet nature. She meant no harm to her or her parent.

Addy let out a "Kee~ya!" squeal as if to say, "Kawaii". She hugged the little fox, and giggled as she licked her nose. To her, it was like hugging a live soft teddy bear.

"Eto…A-A-Addy-chan… will you do me a favor?" Dingo asked, seeing that the girl had a bond with the fox. Addy looked up and nodded.

"W-w-will you promise to keep this our little secret? You know between me, you and Tomahawkman"

The girl smiled as she picked up her sketchbook. _"I promise… on one condition." _

"Eh? What's that?"

_"I will promise to keep her a secret if you let me help take care of her. I wouldn't bring her to my house though. Netto freaks out over wild animals, look what happened to him when he met Jasmine-chan with all those cats. Besides, how can I tell anyone? I can't talk, baka!"_


End file.
